Mikron Assembly Technology's latest development delievers cost per item savings of up to 50 per cent in high-volume high-speed production

Citation

(2003), "Mikron Assembly Technology's latest development delievers cost per item savings of up to 50 per cent in high-volume high-speed production", Assembly Automation, Vol. 23 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2003.03323caf.003

Mikron Assembly Technology's latest development delievers cost per item savings of up to 50 per cent in high-volume high-speed production

Mikron Assembly Technology's latest development delievers cost per item savings of up to 50 per cent in high-volume high-speed production

Keywords: Semiconductors, Printed circuit boards, Assembly

The introduction of the Mikron G05 high-performance assembly system marked a sea change in the design of production equipment when it was launched earlier this year. Currently, the Mikron engineers have developed revolutionary parts feeding technology to provide manufacturers, with high-variety product lines, even greater levels of flexibility and economy in high-speed production.

When Mikron's engineers designed the G05 high-performance assembly system, their aim was to develop a machine that could respond quickly to changing market trends and retain a high level of reusability when changing over to a new product. Mikron's latest development takes this process one stage further by focusing on the machine's component feeding systems: traditionally, the domain of vibratory bowl feeders. The new system brings levels of versatility not previously available in high-speed assembly equipment (Plate 3).

Plate 3 Mikron's new GO5 high-performance-assembly system can give cost per item savings of up to 50 per cent for high volume, high variety manufacturers

Developed through experience

Experience gained during the development of Mikron's Robotic Assembly System, Syfast, has been utilised to produce a vision recognition feeding system that is compatible with the new G05 linear high-speed machine. The system, known as Polyfeed, is particularly suited to manufacturers who not only require high-volume high-speed production, but also the flexibility to cope with high-variety product lines, without expensive retooling or time-consuming changeovers for each model. Mikron's new system dispenses with the need for component dedicated feeding systems, which limit the reusability of conventional assembly machines.

The Polyfeed consists of a parts buffer, conveyor mechanism, vibrating platform and vision recognition system to identify when the parts are in the correct position. Machined surfaces, within the plate, allow parts to be positioned in otherwise unstable or extremely unusual positions. This not only increases production by a significant amount, but also means that expensive, inflexible, flip-over devices are largely redundant. When reconfiguring, tooling plates are released at the touch of a button and the replacement snapped on by hand. By using this manual procedure, the Mikron engineers were able to avoid complicating the system unnecessarily and still maintain a quick changeover.

Maximum reduction in cost per item

The revolutionary design of the Polyfeed means that the cost of the part-specific element of the assembly system can be significantly reduced in relation to the rest of the machine. With conventional configurations, it is normal to set the entire cost of the assembly system against the product being produced. With the Polyfeed, it is now possible to write-off the reusable element of the system over its whole lifetime, while the workpiece-specific portion of the investment can be amortised against the individual products being manufactured.

Although other manufacturers have addressed these issues in the past, no one, until now, can really claim to have made a breakthrough. The Mikron team believe that by developing the new Polyfeed and configuring it for use with the new G05 high-speed system, they have achieved this elusive goal.

For technical information, contact: Richard Krusts (Regional Sales Manager), Mikron Assembly Technology, 74 Newland lane, Ash Green, Coventry, CV7 9BA, UK. Tel: 02476 366071; Fax: 02476 366084; E-mail: r.krusts@ch.mikron-tg.com